Nokia N95, N95 8 GB and N82: The evolution of the multimedia computer

In the beginning …

When the term “multimedia computer” was first unleashed by the Nokia marketing machine it was ridiculed and rejected by the masses. How dare does a company even attempt to begin to compare a fully functional notebook or desktop computer to a mobile phone?

Yes one can install applications on a S60 device in a similar fashion as one can install applications on a Windows or Linux machine, but after that single bullet point the similarities cease to exist. The Nokia N93 is quite a hideous device, but at the time the feature list had the power to make your jaw drop into your lap. The fact that it wasn’t aesthetically pleasing, weighed double what most mobile phones on the market did and had an outrageous price tag made it obvious the powers that be had failed in convincing people that convergence was the future.

The Nokia N95 was next in line, the ultimate multimedia computer, in fact it was what computers have become, but how were we supposed to believe that claim the second time around? The battery life was miserable; the RAM was grossly inadequate, waiting for the GPS to lock on resulted in anger and frustration, the camera was too slow to capture that single moment in life you wished to remember and most puzzling of all: Why did Nokia choose to make their flagship device a slider?

The N95 8GB was released as the band aid to cover the wound inflicted by the original. It came with double the RAM and a larger battery, but even then it brought about new complaints. The lens lacked protection, the memory wasn’t expandable, it was quite an obese device and it was obvious that the majority of consumers were still not satisfied with this new fangled device category.

Enter the N82, the multimedia computer that I can proudly call a multimedia computer. To talk about the N82 without discussing the N95 and the N95 8GB would be a grave mistake because to understand how far we’ve come we need to remember that warm autumn day, September the 26th 2006, when the N95 landed and changed everything.

Nokia N95, the love hate relationship

The Nokia N95 was launched at the Open Studio Event in New York City in September 2006. It was, for lack a better phrase, the cock of the walk. The spec sheet might as well have been engraved on stone tablets and brought down by Moses himself. With a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens, WiFi, HSDPA, GPS, dedicated video acceleration and a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack plus mini USB, it was a turning point in the mobile industry and it all went wrong from there.

The device only started shipping in March of this year, a full 6 months after it was unveiled, and even then the quantities were highly limited. Originally the N95 was supposed to fetch 550 Euros, without taxes, but when the flagship started trickling in it was difficult to find it for fewer than 800 Euros in Europe and close to impossible to locating one in America.

As the second quarter of 2007 came to a close it became easier to obtain the N95 and prices were quite reasonable. Once the journalists and bloggers got access to them, the second wave of negative press hit.

A powerful device needs a powerful battery and the 950 mAh BL-5F was not what the doctor ordered. Coming home with your N95 alive was a miracle and the battery low errors only increased in frequency as your “multimedia computer” got closer to the brink of death. It came to a point that with every key press the N95 would tell you that it had to be plugged in.

The most surprising feature of the this device was GPS, and it sounded quite marvelous, but it never worked. Lock on times took minutes and for some of us a lock never even happened. Worse yet launching the maps application was a sure fire way to end up killing a program you had running in the background. The N95 has such a pitiful amount of RAM that even taking a picture would result in your browser shutting down. If the N95 was what computers have become then it chose to become the 486 that someone left on the curb after purchasing a brand spanking new Pentium II machine, back in 1997.

The 5 megapixel camera was the last thing that could save this device and it barely delivered. The Carl Zeiss lens was protected by a manual shutter that once activated would launch the camera application. From that point on half a button press of the camera key initiated the autofocus, depressing the button even further snapped a picture. The process that I just described to you took around 3 seconds to complete, on a good day.

All of these negative points aside, it was difficult to not fall in love with the N95. The amount of things one could do with just a mobile phone was simply staggering. The N95 may have been a ludicrously beta product, but it was a taste of what the future had to offer. A taste so sweet that it made every other phone on the market seem awfully sour.

The N95 8GB, better, faster, stronger, but at what price?

The Nokia N95 8GB fixed many of the problems the original had, but at the same time presented some new ones. Coming in at 21 mm thick the device is quite hefty and unless you wear baggy jeans, the N95 8GB will make you look like you’re trying to shoplift a VHS. I’m practically 2 meters tall and have fairly large hands: I don’t have any issues with this device’s size, but you may.

[Earlier this month my colleague Dusan found a 9 minute video that compares the N95 to the N95 8GB]

No longer will you have the pleasure of taking out your memory card and popping it into your computer; you’re stuck with the 8GB onboard. Something to take note of is how fast the memory industry is moving. One can purchase an 8GB microSDHC card today for around $100 and the maximum capacity of the microSDHC format is set to top out at 32GB.

You may or may not care about the 32GB card that doesn’t exist, but a quick and easy way to breathe new life into an old device, trust me the N95 8GB will be ancient in 18 months, is to shove more memory into it. For those of us who purchase a new phone every few months the 8GB doesn’t seem like a problem, but when you start using it you enter a world of pain.

Moving less than 2GB worth of music onto the N95 8GB takes over half an hour. Using HDTach, a program that measures how fast one can move data to and from a device, on a fairly high end XP SP2 machine, gave the 8GB a score of 0.9 MB/s. Using Windows Vista’s “more information” feature when dragging and dropping files resulted in the unscientific result of 625 kb/s. For those of you who like to top up your device in the morning with all the tracks you pirated last night on bittorrent, you’re going to find yourself missing the bus more often than you’d like.

The manual shutter from the original N95 is gone because they had to remove that little piece of plastic to accommodate a new larger 1200 mAh battery known as the BL-6F. Thanks to the extra juice I can now take my device out and have greater than 50% confidence it will come home alive versus a snowball’s chance in hell with the Nokia N95. Not having a shutter will result in your lens getting scratched and Nokia tries to minimize this by recessing the glass further into the device. This equates to images not being as sharp as they can be and in blind AB tests I prefer the N95 images compared to the 8GB.

[Recently I spent a weekend in Estonia. I took 164 images with the Nokia N82 and I gave my friend the N95 8GB, he took 55 images and a video (raw mp4 file).]

The Nokia N95 8GB employs a new memory usage technique called on demand paging. More information on this technology can be found over at this Symbian page, but in summary it lets you use the RAM you have in your device more efficiently. That feature compounded with the fact that the 8GB has double the RAM compared to the original ensures that you will never, no matter how hard you try, run out of memory. If you get an out of memory error on your 8GB then you must’ve installed a horribly buggy program that leaks like the Titanic.

There is a new application called Search 4.0 that does to your mobile phone experience what Google did to the internet. From one search box you can find any text message, calendar entry, MP3, contact, note, literally anything on your phone, quickly due to the fact that you don’t need to type out a complete query in order to get results. From the moment you begin entering characters into the search field the device narrows down what it is you might be trying to find. It could be a little faster, but it isn’t that unpleasant.

Podcast support is not a new feature, you can download the program for any S60 3rd Edition device here, but for the first time it is built in and that makes a huge difference. To test out the lusciously large 2.8 inch screen I subscribed to several video podcasts and had the N95 8GB check for new episodes daily at 4:00 over WiFi. Watching video on this device is a sight to behold; at maximum brightness you get spoiled by the 16 million colors and high contrast levels. I can easily watch a full 30 minute episode of Cranky Geeks without getting eye strain. Starting my day in bed with a 10 minute Boing Boing TV episode is too beautiful to put into words. Martin Sargent, who stars in Web Drifter and Infected, is one of the few men alive who can make me laugh out loud. The speakers on the N95 8GB are just as powerful as the original N95. The slight hiss when listening via the 3.5 mm headphone jack on the original N95 is gone with the 8GB model.

[Tip: Most video podcasts have an option to download content formated for the iPod video. Use this option as it provides video in QVGA resolution, the native resolution of most S60 devices on the market.]

The build quality of the N95 8GB is superior to the original. The slide mechanism is much more solid and the screen is covered by either glass or plastic making the front of the device feel flat. The keypad lights are now white versus blue, a very welcome change since turning off your alarm when waking up in the morning and catching a glimpse of those bright blue buttons can can result in sensations somewhat similar to getting salt poured into your eyes.

The GPS application works beautifully, a fix takes no longer than 5 seconds, but you don’t get basic navigation out of the box. That will cost you extra, with plans that range from one week all the way to one year.

For all intents and purposes, when Steve Litchfield said that the N95 8GB was the best smart phone ever made, he was not lying. Recently however Nokia did something to the N95 that made it a totally new beast.

N95, the rebirth

A few weeks after the N95 came out a new firmware (v12) was released. It fixed the GPS lock on situation by adding Assisted GPS, a technology that uses your data connection to accelerate the lock on process.

It turned the GPS from useless to indispensable. When I received my retail N95 it had this firmware preloaded and it made living in a new country (Finland) a highly pleasurable experience as it saved me from getting lost on numerous occasions.

The problem with this new firmware was that it introduced a new bug, one that was quite obnoxious. Every 10 or so key presses the next key pushed would not be registered. For heavy text message users like myself, this bug elevated my blood pressure to unhealthy levels nearly every day. Recently however Nokia released yet another firmware (v20). It fixed that bug and breathed new life into that phone as well.

On Demand paging is now built in giving you 30 MB of free RAM on a fresh boot and making the entire device feel a lot more responsive. The Podcasting application is preinstalled. The Search 4.0 application is preinstalled. Support for N-Gage and the Nokia Music Store is added. The camera drivers were rewritten from scratch and now the N95 camera is just as fast as the 8 GB model. Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling is enabled, a fancy way of saying power management improved and in some cases provides you 20% more battery life.

Rumor has it that yet another firmware for this device is due to be released that will add Flash Lite 3 support, which would enable YouTube playback, automatic screen rotation similar to the Nokia N82, thanks to the built in accelerometer, and support for widgets.

The N95 of today is a completely different animal compared to the N95 of one year ago. That being said, it is still a slider. What is Nokia’s solution for us monoblock fans?

Nokia N82, Nseries is now mature

Some people say that the N82 is a Nokia N95 in a monoblock form factor plus Xenon flash. While this crude description is highly accurate, it doesn’t factor in the holistic experience of the device.

The Nokia N82, like the N95, is based on the TI OMAP 2420 running at 333 MHz and like the N95 8GB it has 128 MB of RAM with nearly 90 MB free on first boot. It weighs 114 grams, is only 17.3 mm thick and stands 112 mm tall by 50.2 mm wide. Again like the N95, it runs S60 3rd Edition Feature Pack 1 on top of Symbian 9.2. It has a 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens equipped camera with Xenon flash, WiFi, HSDPA on the 2100 MHz band and is quad band GSM/EDGE. Reception is fantastic and the call quality is similar to the N95, meaning incredible.

It has the BP-6MT battery, 1050 mAh, which after 2 weeks has always managed to bring back my N82 home alive.

On the top of the device, from left to right, is a hole for your cell phone strap, a 3.5 mm headphone jack and finally the power button.

On the right side, from top to bottom, you have a speaker, volume up, volume down, gallery button, camera button and one more speaker.

On the bottom of the device there is nothing but a hole that acts as a microphone.

The left side, from top to bottom, microUSB, microSDHC slot, 2 mm Nokia charger port.

The front of the device houses a 2.4 inch 240×320 resolution display that supports 16 million colors, a camera for video calling, a speaker, send and end keys, T9 keypad, 5 way dpad, left and right soft keys, Symbian and “C” key and a multimedia key which enables the highly gimmicky multimedia menu to launch. Watch this video on YouTube to get an idea of what the Multimedia Menu is all about.

The back of the phone has the camera, the flash and the manual shutter.

I’ve had the N82 since it launched (attended the premiere of this device along with several bloggers at Nokia HQ in Finland) on November 14 and to me, this is the best smart phone in the world. In terms of build quality this is the most solid Nseries device ever released. The Xenon flash makes a world of a difference when taking pictures. The software on the N82 is similar to the N95 8GB and the regular old N95 with the new firmware. On a fresh boot you get 90MB+ of RAM to yourself and it is impossible to use all of that up.

Not everything is perfect however. I’ve been carrying around a notebook and pen with me everywhere I go and jotting down observations of things that make me scratch my head.

First and foremost, I blame this problem due to the fact that I have an APAC (Asian and Pacific Region) N82, but setting up my Flickr account proved to be a pain. I had to Google the special Nseries website on Flickr to download the configuration file, send it to my device over Bluetooth, then enter my settings. VOX was the only configuration option in my device, Flickr wasn’t in there, but it should never be this hard to add a service. A regular user would have given up by now or installed Shozu.

Like the N95 and the N95 8GB, the N82 does not have and notification LED’s. Call me old school, but I like being able to glance at my device and see I have missed a call or received an SMS. There is no IR port either and while I personally don’t mind, I know about 10 of you really care about this. Last time I used the IR port on any handheld device that wasn’t a remote control was my Palm Pilot.

The N82 has screen rotation, but it only works in one direction. If you have the phone in your right hand and tilt it to the left, the screen will flip. If you have your phone in the left hand and tilt it to the right, it does not work.

I have tons of music that doesn’t have album art. My device is connected to the internet. My MP3’s are perfectly tagged. Why doesn’t my device go out onto the net and grab album art for my music?

The battery meter is no where near accurate. At one point I was impressed that I only lost one bar after an entire day, but then a few minutes later the phone asked to be plugged in.

Clicking on an RSS feed that has enclosures (also known as a podcast) doesn’t initiate the podcasting application. I have to subscribe to the RSS feed in the S60 browser, then go and edit my subscriptions, copy and paste the URL into the podcasting application and then I’m good to go.

Red eye. Red eye. Red eye. Red eye. Plenty of it. There are four flash modes: Automatic, On, Red Eye and Off, but who ever remembers to turn on red eye mode? The next firmware update better fix the red eye issue, but it might not since red eye is caused by the fact that the Xenon flash is too close to the lens. Read more about the red eye effect on Wikipedia.

The keys are properly backlight, but the intensity isn’t uniform. The keys in the middle (2, 5, 8, 0) have fantastic illumination, but as you go farther and farther to the side you lose some of that intensity.

The screen rotation feature doesn’t work if your phone is tilted in the Z axis. No one holds their phone perfectly perpendicular to the earth. The taller you are the more parallel to the planet you hold your device. Sometimes when taking the N82 out of my pocket my screen is in landscape mode, a simple shake of the device brings it back to portrait mode. What people will think of you wiggling your phone as you’re walking down the street is something I’m not going to touch on.

The automatic keylock only occurs when you’re at the active standby screen. Meaning if you’re in an application and you shove your phone in your pocket, you’re going to be hitting keys and the program will react accordingly. Automatic keylock should be universal throughout the entire device.

The N82 is an incredibly solid device, but it is all plastic. I would like to see the use of metals incorporated into Nseries devices. Sony Ericsson makes some amazing phones out of metal and let us not forget the beauties that pop out of Nokia’s Enterprise Solutions division (Eseries) like the E61i and the mid range 6500 Classic made out of anodized aluminum along with the 6500 Slide made out of stainless steel, both from the Mobile Phones organization. Give me metal or give me death.

The cell phone strap should not be attached to the top of the phone. When you’re walking it hits the back of your device and creates an awful sound. It should be on the bottom, just like every other mobile phone on the planet.

I’m growing tired of the gallery application. Whoever decided to lump photos and videos into the same directory should make a video and post it onto YouTube explaining why he thought it was a good idea. YouTube is about video, Flickr is about photos. On my Nokia E61i the images are separated from the videos and I would like to see Nseries adopt this philosophy. While we’re on the topic of gallery, it needs an overhaul. It should be easier to create albums, see photos based on dates, see photos based on location (cell ID or GPS), tag my photos, etc.

The N82 cannot stand on its side to take photos. It needs to be in someone’s hand or in the Nokia DT22 tripod. This might be a turn off for some people, but I’m totally fine with it.

The N82 (and N95 8GB and N95 with firmware v20) has an option in the camera to enable a 3×3 grid to appear on top of the viewfinder. It is incredibly handy for lining up your shots or for getting your composition just right. Problem is it needs to be activated every time you start the camera application. I would like that to be a setting that the camera remembers.

I can’t watch my DivX or XviD files on my device. A majority of the video I download is in either of these two formats. Don’t even bother linking me to transcoding software; I have better things to do with my time and processing power. I should be able to drag and drop files onto my memory card and have them be playable on my Nseries device. If Samsung can get their phones DivX certified, why can’t Nokia?

I’ve made this device reboot two times and only once has it locked up so hard that I had to pull the battery. Recently however, as in less than 12 hours ago, my N82’s camera stopped working. When manually opening the shutter there is nothing but a flashing battery symbol in the top left hand corner. I’ve tried multiple things to resolve this issue, but nothing has worked.

The USB port and the power port are on the side of the device versus the bottom. Some people have complained about this and that is the only reason I’m bringing it up, it doesn’t affect me. What is more upsetting is the fact that the device does not charge via USB.

At the end of the day …

I am in love with my Nokia N82. She isn’t the prettiest girl on the block, but with all of these features inside a relatively small well built compact body, it is hard to recommend any other smart phone on the market.

The screen on the N95 8GB is absolutely stunning and the only thing that tops it is the iPhone due to the higer resolution screen.

The original N95, the one that millions of early adopters picked up, is not being ignored by Nokia, but instead getting continuous improvements. That in it of itself should make N95 owners ecstatic, but at the same time make them hesitant of switching to the N82 since it really isn’t that much better.

I’m troubled that the camera on my N82 stopped working. This is the first time in close to a decade of using mobile phones that I’ve had a Nokia break on me. I hope it is the last as well.

If you’re in the market for a new device, pick up the N82. You have my recommendation.

At the same time I did see YouTube playback on an E90 at the Smartphone Show in London. It has the same hardware platform as the N95 (and N95 8GB and N82) so it should be interesting to see if the rumors are true.

Alessandro

Ciao Stefan,

yes, those phones are to showcase the technology! I saw it too and I am currently developing on Flash Lite 3. Alessandro

Vaibhav Sharma

Great post, I specially liked the introduction and lead up to the N82. However somehow it seemed to me that the N95 was painted in a light worse than it deserves. Agreed there was some redemption when you talked about the v20 firmware but overall it left a poor impression of the device. Anyway.. N I am also glad that Nokia decided to make a slider the flagship! Had been waiting since the 7650! 😉 Its a matter of personal choices and I prefer sliders. But one thing I complete agree with and implore Nokia to do is get more metal into the Nseries. I don’t mind the extra weight as long as the device looks and feels sleek and not necessarily slim like those motorolas. I’d love a steel N95 even if weighed 140g.

edunmc

WOW!! That’s a huge/amazing review! 😯 😀

Thanks for finally posting it 🙂

James @ Nokia Creative

Good work Stefan, I loved the whole build up to the final review, very classy!

N95

very high-quality overview and review, thanks! 🙂 it covers exactly the critical points that need to be covered – and i don’t think it comes over too critical. on the contrary – i think it’s very objective and realistic. that’s the way i love it 🙂

Tommie

Thanks Stefan, Superb review 😛 Real nice read and it make me to order N82 tomorrow , but I still love N95 😎

Cheers

J O G E E

This was the highlight of my day. To be honest I hate sliders, but i’m kind of glad I purchased the N95 8GB last night. I don’t know what possessed me to buy it but I think the N82 is still one that can be improved significantly. New handsets, especially released at such fast improving technology, will take time to master. I think the 8GB N95 has done the most to compensate and I think the successor or (N95 8GB varient) of the n82 will be something to dig deep into the pockets for. As for now, I’m glad i settled on the N95 8gb, £400 well spent. Yes, I am losing out on the xenon flash but I would havE had to live with an album full of people looking like they’ve been smoking drugs. As for the review, this was well worth the read. A magnificent review, hats off to you stefan, enjoy your weekend.

Sim

Great work Stefan. Thank you, 🙂

Mr-G

Great review, Stefan! Your work is VERY much appreciated.

alberto

i love the fido sim card in your nokia n95 8GB

lmfao

thats what we have here in canada.

PlayerKill

That’s a darn great and detailed review… seriously!!!

I want to know more about the sound quality though…

PlayerKill

Going back to my older comments, here are things I wish you could add upon:

Sound quality and loudness, comparing the three phones both on loudspeaker and headphones…

N82 has speakers on the same side… Doesn’t that disturb you like other people say? I’m quite surprised that you put in all the details about the weaknesses without this…

Does the lens protector of the N82 slide easily like the N95’s? Are there accidents where the protector opens in your pocket or something?

“The new number keys… They seem small and uncomfortable. Although, I read that it’s harder to push a different button by mistake. It makes sense, since the buttons are rather small. What would you say about this?” I really hope you can comment on this… the number keys!!!

Compare the N82’s battery with the N95 8GB’s, please! Does Lithium-Polymer cause any difference when compared to Lithium-Ion??

I like all the details you have written, but I think you have not quite covered all the aspects…

Richard

The problems your having with the Camera could be similar to a problem I had with a SE K750i a few years ago.

The sensor broke that knew if the lens shutter was open or not. So it was in a similar state to activating the camera but with the lens shutter closed, even if it was open.

Could this be what has happened?

Richard

Problems with the camera on the Nokia N82, sorry didn’t make that clear in first post.

If it is that it’s proper broken and no reset’s will sort it out.

FlameRage

Does anyone have any idea of the price?

Mid or High end?

I was thinking of Mid end my self, since there will be new serie of phones on 2008Q1

Stefan Constantinescu

without taxes the N82 is 450 Euros, it is available now in some online shops and it is expected to be in stores sometime this month.

som

comparison of the sound aspects will make this review even more magnificient. speakerphone, quality and loudness-both out put and what the other side hear; music throgh speakerphone; earpice quaity etc

CAMELJOCKEY

I had a Nokia. I threw it away. I have an iPhone.

Joe

I had a iphone I threw it away, The best choice I ever done. 😎 Thank you Nokia for bring me N95 8GB “The best smartphone ever”

Jack

Awsome good post ,Thanks

tito

plzzzzzzzzzz..can any one tell me which mobile is louder and better in its speakers sound in music playing N82 or N95?

tito

which mobile is louder and better in its speakers sound in music playing N82 or N95?plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Lowex

Hi-

I used to own a K750i and I really miss the camera functionality it had. I have been waiting for a while for the N82 to be released. However, now that the N82 is available, several other 5 mp phones with Xenon flash have also been released. Please can you help me by answering the following question:

The K750 had a big problem…blurry photos at night along with lots of ‘blue’ noise in the picture. Basically, at night, the k750i was next to useless. This is why I’ve been holding out for device that has a xenon flash. With the N82; are pictures blurry (i.e. is the shutter speed to slow?) at night or if your subject moves too fast? and what about the blue noise please?

Many thanks for the review. It seemed really honest especially considering you’d been welcomed in to the Nokia HQ…

Tommi Vilkamo

Fantastic article, Stefan, I’m impressed. Again.

There’s one thing, though, that I’m getting a bit tired with: your sloppy use of the word “should”, i.e. how things should be done. Some examples:

> Automatic keylock should be universal throughout the entire device.

Disagree. I don’t want the keylock to go on, when I’m reading a web page, or watching a video, or navigating with maps. I strongly believe it shouldn’t be universal.

> The cell phone strap should be on the bottom, > just like every other mobile phone on the planet.

Really? Do you have stats? Well, I don’t either, but I dis some random searches at Google image search, and most cell phone pictures had the strap on the top.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think this kind of sloppy “should” statements dilute the value of your other (more insightful and more important) suggestions for Nokia. After all, you do often have seriously good suggestions.

Or what do you think yourself?

Jack

Real good read and great review but I can agree with Tommi , he have some points.

Stefan Constantinescu

You are right Tommi, it was sloppy of me to make an assumption and state it as fact.

I’ll watch my use of the word should, from now on I should concentrate more on saying “I would have preferred.”

Thank you for the feedback.

tito

😆 ❓ excellent review Stefan really i enjoy with it but I heard that ring tone and music sound in N82 speakers are muffled (low sound in speakers) in compare with loud and high qualtiy sound in speakers of N95 and N95 8G..is that true about N82? also whcich mobile has better features of multimeda device ((loud and high qualitiy speaker sound and headset sound and also battery life in hours to listen to music)) N95 original or N82?? thanks again for this beautiful review.

Darryl Phillips

Great review! I’ve a N82 and N95 and I’m battling with the font size on the N82. Even set to large I have difficulty reading some text but the N95 is great. Is the N95 8Gb even better? Darryl

tito

fantastic review Stefan really i enjoy with it but I heard that ring tone and music sound in N82 speakers are muffled (low sound in speakers) in compare with loud and high qualtiy sound in speakers of N95 and N95 8G..is that true about N82? also whcich mobile has better features of multimeda device ((loud and high qualitiy speaker sound and headset sound and also battery life in hours to listen to music)) N95 original or N82?? thanks again for this amazing review.

Micke

Can only agree that N82 is the best device I ever have use and I have had a lott inkl, ipone N82 rocks awsome good phone 😉

Robb

great review!!!

I gave up my iPhone when v20 launched for my N95-1. Such an awesome phone.

Admir Sulejmanovic

i like this phone very much….. plase send me a more picture if you can hehe.thanks very much…

Mark

Awsome good review , and yes more pictures of this great devices and more reviews on N82 😛

pat

with the very first review on the nokia n95 when you said why would they make their flag mark phone a slider, thats easy it is because that is the type of phone that everyone wants to get, its the new fad of phone type and everyone is getting it and they brought it in at the right time

pat

with what you said in the first comment on the nokia n95 when you said why is it a slide well it is becaus eit is whats in, thenew fad of phone and its alot easier to put the keypad and music controls and all of the things on the side but other thenthat it isa really good review

Budugu

Why cant you download the Divx player from divx. I have it on my E90 and it can play a 320 MB xvid file straight out of the bittorrent ( i say it because it is a very high res file with very high data rate 320Mb for 40 mins … no transcoding, flidling with the size or any thing,). divx says it will play wiht any mobile with S60 3rd edition. My guess is it will work with N95

Yummi

Most excellent review. I especially liked the N95 history lesson. My latest acquisition will be the N82; is it all the way there, no. Is it close, IMO, yes. Of all the phones that are currently out (N95, 850i, iPhone, etc.), the N82 seems like the best bang for the buck.

Where you able to able that camera issue?

Again, great blog! Keep up the good work.

Sri

Stefan,

How strong N82 battery is, when we are using it’s features at normal rate?

Will it last a day or two? or even less.

How strong it’s battery is when comapred N95-1 battery? My friend using N95-1. His battery dies after 4hrs. of music.

Could you send any information regarding this?

Thanks, Sri

carl

i haven’t seen the N82 yet..but i will check it out.. what a wonderful review.. i have an N95 8GB mysef and i love it as it were my baby.. but the thing is ..it costed me too much.. but that’s alright.. the features are great.. soo.. the N95 and the N82 are exactly the same exept for the memory?.. ❓ soo could you find out how long my N95 8GB battery would last if it were just used on text messaging?..if you could… please send me the information via e-mail..cayx_32@yahoo.com.ph thank you for everything.. 🙂

steve

Hello Seller, i really like the above item and i will be so happy if you can sell it for me, well you can get back to me with your bank account deatail through the below email address so i can transfer your money no matter how the price of the item is thanks so much. regards steverevsteveisaccpollard@verizonmail.com

Dynass

N82 and N95 8GB which one is most popular??? i haerd that the N82’s function is better than N95 but now i can’t difference those mobile phone,both of their function is too similar. if i gonna buy either one of them then which one is my better choice?

Daniel

Hi Stefan. You did a excellent review of N82/N95. I bought my N82 with your help from the review. I love my N82. The problem I have is the font is too small for me even when I chose the larger font. Do you know of any Nokia program updates out there that can adjust the font to be even larger? That would be really great. Keep up the good work, Stefan.

Daniel

andreixxx

hello…I’m in a big dilemma…n82 or n95 8gb…i like the screen and memory of n95 but the slide is awful…i love the xenon flash of the n82 and that it is a candybar.Thank you

Zahir

I’ve heard that the N82 can be quite an unattractive phone. But in terms of features, this phone kicks ass!

andreixxx

to be honest,i like more the design of n82 than n95

zhiyar diyar muhammed

🙂 n82 s’ camera is a bit better than n95 but the look the same the only differnce is in size (n82 is better than n95)

Eisa1987

well, I plan on getting a new mobile phone, and happened to pass here. But now that I’ve read your review, I might go with the n82. Thank you.

deiu

do apps for n95 work also on n82 ???

SAHAL

Hi i wanna know what should i choice the price on n82 is very cheap but the n95 8gb is higher, does tht means it is better??

andreixxx

I had the same dilemma…I m now waiting for my n82 to come.I chose it because it is much more resistent,it-s a candybar not a slider,the camera has xenon flash and another thing is the camera lens protection.The n95 8gb doesn t have one and i think that it s very unpleasant to whipe out the lens every time yout want to take a picture.I HAD MONEY TO BUY BOTH…CHOSE N82.

SAHAL

I ve already bought n82 thx buddy

andreixxx

how is it…i m still waiting for mine…unfortunatelly it s not on stock.What are yout firs impressions,how is the music through headphones,what price,and if you find sites with apps and games for it please let me now.

andreixxx

where did you get the gps maps???…i n gonna get one for 380 euros…

SAHAL

yeah i still have the nokia maps.. it is incloud with my product.. where are you from?

andreixxx

i’m from Romania…what do you mean with the maps???you got the phone with the maps allready installed???what program are you using?

SAHAL

well i use nokia mapes.. nokia gives u 3 month free using..

andreixxx

ok…you re right…but you ll have to get maps afther expires.what other phones have you owned and what s the sound in headphones compared to them.have you used a n95 8gb to make a comparison???

SAHAL

lol, no.. i have a normal headphone.. i think i’ll get rout 66 after nokia maps expires.. but am not sure maybe i get it..

Montu

What about battery life?? I am looking at decent 3 hrs talktime. I got a 5310 just coz it stated it can play music for 18 hours and it gives up after 7 hours. 🙁

Phillip

n95 8gb is still the best though the price of the n82 is affordable, adding a few cash will be worth it for an n95 8gb

Simon

You wrote “Recently however, as in less than 12 hours ago, my N82’s camera stopped working. When manually opening the shutter there is nothing but a flashing battery symbol in the top left hand corner. I’ve tried multiple things to resolve this issue, but nothing has worked.”

Did you find a way to solve this problem, because my phone just encountered the same problem?

Nice review btw

Andreas

I also have a problem with the camera on my Nokia N82. When manually opening the shutter there is nothing but a flashing battery symbol in the top left hand corner. I just upgraded the firmware to 20.0.62, but the camera will just *not* work.

It’s a shame since it’s otherwise a brilliant device.

Mike

Just purchased a nokia 95 8gb I would like tranfer DVD’s on to it. What program do I need to conver DVD’s or can I only down load from the net, if so where from

Raidium

Excellent work on the review Stefan. Great Pics!

Raidium

I would also like to know of a program to convert DVD movies into computer file formats so they are able to be watched on the PC without the disc. If anyone knows of a program and the location to download it, please post it here or send me and email as Raidium4142@hotmail.com Thank you and I would greatly appreciate it!

Nicholezion

I have a huge problem with my Nokia N95, the Gallery keeps popping out for no Reason, and sometimes every time I press the #9 it opens. Any help?

Suzanne

Hi Stefan!

Great review! Would you now, almost 6 months later, still recommend the N82? Or are there new phones on the market that can compete with the N82?

afzal

N82 User Guide Page 38

You cannot take pictures if the xenon flash is not fully charged, unless you have set the flash to Off. When the flash is charging, (The flash battery symbol) blinks on the display. Charging the xenon flash usually takes a couple of seconds.

hope that solves ur problem 🙂

Simon

What solves it, in Stefans words “this is going to sound silly, but trust me. hold your N82 in your hand so that the usb port is facing the sky. now gently tap the top back of the device on your knuckle.” This actually fixed the problem, for me at least.

james

I have two Nokia N95 8GB (RM-320) phones and using the Nokia Software Updater one would update and the other one didnt have the update shown ! strange Recommend the update if you can get it Have seen no problem with the Video / Camera functions unlike one other I read about James

vivek

hi, i m also have a nokia n82 but i am looking for nokia n95 8GB. nokia n82 has the best camera in all nokia n series phones. i will suggest u to buy nokia n82.

teto1007m

thx for ti pargrame

passa

nice review !!..but I feel u were a little biased on comoparing them.

Ryan Lee

so i was lookin at buying a nokia phone on gsmallover.com..i’m thinkin about getting the N95 8GB. can anyone tell me how good that phone actually is? is there a diff nokia phone that’s better–cuz they have a lot of options, i’m just not sure

wusthof set

Hi, i must brilliant website you have, i stumbled across it in Google. Does you get much traffic?